


No Strings Attached

by SirLadySketch



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Axel introspective, Axel was up to SO MUCH in Days, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Set during 358/2 Days, Treasured Memories KH zine, Zine fics, aka lying, identity crisis, keeping secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 10:39:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirLadySketch/pseuds/SirLadySketch
Summary: He’s been trying to find the edges of where ‘puppet’ ends and ‘Xion’ begins.My take on the scene from 358/2 Days where Xion asks for Axel's advice on what to do when she finds out who and what she really is, and Axel's mixed feelings about the whole situation.





	No Strings Attached

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for the "Treasured Memories" KH zine that came out earlier this year! We had 1k to work with a quote from the series-- mine was “We’re best friends. You, me, and Roxas, that is. Got it memorized?” I had SO much fun working on the zine-- can't wait for the next ones. :D

By this point in his existence, Axel thinks he’s gotten pretty good at picking up on deception and dealing with it. After all, he’d taken out all of the traitors in Castle Oblivion, hadn’t he?

Of course, Saix’d more or less implied that he was supposed to perish there, too, but Isa was never one to mince words. Maybe  _ that’s _ why what he’d learned at the Castle has him so on edge-- not because Xemnas (and Saix, by extension) has been lying to him, but because they don’t  _ care _ that he knows. That they just expect him to be the good little soldier and follow orders, no matter what.

Roxas is his best friend. They’ve been through dozens of missions together, hung out for ice cream, spent their days off together. What they have is  _ real _ , and he treasures those memories.  _ It’s the memories that create the things that we don’t want to lose. _ He doesn’t want to lose Roxas, but Roxas is dying.

Normally in this kind of situation he’d just get rid of the problem. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty if it means he’ll get what he wants in the end. Except…

“Then what should I do?”

Xion watches him, eyes wet as she waits for his advice. She’s been chewing on her lip, and there are circles under her eyes from restless nights of too little sleep. All things considered, she should be looking better and healthier than ever, considering she’d been siphoning off all of Roxas’ power. 

To save Roxas, he should get rid of her. Except…

“I can’t answer that.”

Except Xion is his best friend, too.

He’s been trying to find the edges of where ‘puppet’ ends and ‘Xion’ begins. Searching his memories, there’s always been the hint of a face--maybe it was shadowed, but she’s always just been Xion. Looking at her now, there are no hints at manufacturing seams, no stilted movement to indicate strings or machinery. She looks like she always has, albeit a bit more stressed and a lot more sad.

Would she’ve looked different if he’d known from the start? Would he have treated her the same?

“You gotta think for yourself,” he replies. “‘Cuz I know you’re not just a puppet.”

No. His orders to protect Roxas at all costs meant that he would’ve gotten rid of her from the start.

But now? Maybe he’d still consider it, if she was more like that replica of Riku, the puppet that had whined and cried so much about the unfairness of it all. Maybe if she’d knowingly been working towards Roxas’ demise, and wasn’t a pawn being played left and right.

“We’re best friends. You, me, and Roxas, that is. Got it memorized?”

Maybe, if she hadn’t become one of his best friends.

She’s still too upset to smile, but he can tell that his answer’s loosened something inside of her. Even without a heart, he thinks that he’s helped put hers at ease, at least a little. 

“Sure,” she replies, then stares at the floor, thinking about what he’s said. There’s something else on the tip of her tongue, he can sense it, so he waits, wondering if he’ll actually be able to help at all. Sure enough, she meets his eye again, and asks, “Can I ask you just one other thing?”

He shrugs. “What’s that?”

“I saw a boy today who looks just like Roxas. Is he who I think he is?”

He stares at her a long minute. He knew she’d been to the castle, knew she’d been snooping around. But he thought she’d been sticking to the computers and reading up on her creation. Had she been checking out the  _ rest _ of the castle then? Gone into the other rooms? Because Diz and Namine moved Sora and his pals  _ ages _ ago, and if she’s been wandering the castle, that can only means she’s found--

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says. “Roxas is Sora’s nobody, you saw that in the files.”

“Yes, but the boy--”

“There  _ is  _ no boy,” he says, then, “Look, just… forget it, ok? There’s a reason it’s called ‘Castle Oblivion.’  _ If _ something was there, it’s because they want people to forget about it.”

She tugs on his sleeve, pleading. “But if he could help Roxas--”

“No good, just forget it,” he says, and steps out of her grasp. He stops just short of the stairs, though, and turns to look back at her.  _ If The Superior knew…. _ “Don’t go chasing shadows, or you’re as good as a dusk. Besides, don’t you have a mission? You can’t let Roxas down.”

“Oh!” she says, hand going up to her mouth. “You think that will help Roxas?”

“Definitely,” he says, although there’s an ache in his stomach as he watches her dash off to whatever Saix has her doing today. He should probably get going soon, too, but...

He knows without a doubt that if Xemnas knew he’d stop at nothing to find that room. But Axel knows all about deception -- and he’s going to do everything he can to keep his best friends safe.

**Author's Note:**

> The line at the end of the scene never made sense to me-- "I saw a boy, is he who I think he is?" because at this point, Sora' s been removed from the Castle of Oblivion, so the only possible person Xion might've seen in there was Ven. They never talk about it/reveal what it was, but I like to think she saw him, realized he had something to do with Roxas, and wondered if he'd be able to 'fix' Roxas enough to keep him alive.  
> We already know that Axel knew Ven was in the castle somewhere since Xemnas had him searching within, so he'd be able to guess who Xion meant right away. To protect all three of his friends-- Xion, Roxas, and Ven-- he'd want to keep her as far from him as possible.


End file.
